Destination Ireland
by Grykon
Summary: Continuing my Uncivil War story line re-imagining of episode 3x08 'Sly and the Family Stone'. AU 50.007
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry dear readers, I forgot to mention Thursday there would be no update yesterday. I let my writing schedule get messed up and I decided not to post until today to get it back on track. Hope you enjoy the re-imagining of 3x08 'Sly and the Family Stone.' To the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

"That's it Walter, you are doing great! No, don't look back; keep focused on reaching Paige, that's it. Five more steps now." The therapist told him as he walked along with him holding onto the gait belt as the other therapist followed with the wheelchair.

Paige sat there watching with a tear in her eye, and a smile on her face, because despite the damage inflicted by Tim, Walter was making great strides, having just surpassed his best so far by over fifteen feet, just five more steps and he would reach fifty feet.

Cabe walked along Walter's other side, he wasn't about to let Walter fall again if he could help it. Even though he knew these were not the same therapists and they constantly took every precaution and consideration for Walter into account he still was uneasy.

Sylvester sat going over the large family photo of his extended family on Walter's side. He kept repeating their names and rattling off different likes and dislikes.

It was a little disconcerting to Walter, "You realize Sly; you are investing a lot of time and energy on people who most likely won't return the favor."

"Walter, you need to stay focused here," the therapist reminded him.

"You don't know that Walter, Sly's been communicating with them every week. Something you should do as well as help Sly get to know your family." Paige told him as he finally reached her.

The other therapist pushed the wheelchair up behind his knees and Walter sat down. "Oh yes, invest time into the people who spent my early years making me feel inadequate, mocking and torturing me. That's a great idea." Walter rolled his eyes as he answered her. Paige smiled as she kissed him.

"They couldn't have been that bad," Paige half smiled as she sat down and looked at Cabe and Cabe just kind of made a face as he tilted his head and turned and walked away.

Walter wheeled his chair around and moved back towards his desk, "Oh yes, they were perfect except for the fact they couldn't stand me for not being nothing more than a walking sack of bones and muscles to tote around hay bales and performing other physically demanding work."

Paige looked puzzled and got up and followed after him, "Well as much as I want to see you connect with your family, if you would rather stay home, I'd be okay with that. We could take the time off of Scorpion."

Walter smiled, "I'd liked that but I've already purchased our tickets."

"No, you got to come with me, you promised," Sylvester complained.

"We could give the tickets to Happy and Toby," Paige suggested.

Walter smiled, "No, we should go, I can make the effort with my family and if it doesn't go well you will have a better understanding of the problem."

"I wish this Pattern Day fell during a time school was out, I'd love to be able to take Ralphy." Paige said looking at the young genius.

Cabe stepped over to Ralph and bent over a bit as he said, _"Not clear why they call it Pattern Day. Patterned after what?" _

Ralph sighed, "_Pattern is a corruption of the word patron, as in patron saint. You could Google it."_

Cabe smiled, "_I like to practice my human interaction."_ Then he whispered, "_It's a valuable skill."_

"Walter you are making great strides, considering the attack you survived we are both highly impressed. We just hope you aren't pushing yourself too far too fast." The therapist told him as they gathered up all their equipment.

Walter smiled, Thanks, not much chance of that. I got 6 people watching my every little move like hawks." He squeezed Paige's hand as he looked up at her, "Not that I mind it when it's you." Paige returned his smile.

"Well we've done some searches of aerial photos of your home village in Ireland and it looks like everywhere you will be is mostly dirt or gravel so you have to use your wheelchair while you are there. It's too much of a trip hazard for you. Is your parent's home wheelchair accessible?" The therapist continued.

Walter shook his head, "We'll be staying at a hotel, we'll only go out to the village for the event and I will use the wheelchair as much as I hate it."

"Okay, well we have given Paige reminder sheets for your exercises, so we look forward to seeing you back in just over a week and please we do not want to have to work around new injuries so try and take it easy and give your body a break." The therapist smiled at him.

"From your lips to God's ear," Cabe chimed in.

* * *

The flight over to Dublin had been fairly routine, Walter had been happy he upgraded his and Paige's seats to business class. The extra leg room and fully reclining seats were a blessing. Customs had been a bit of a pain but they were happy with their hotel room. They spent the first two days acclimating to the time change and they had gone out site seeing in the city.

At first Cabe and Sylvester seemed to be intruding on their time together, their first vacation as a couple and Walter ended up pretending to not feel so well and wanting to stay at the hotel until after Sylvester and Cabe went out to explore the city on their own.

"Do you want me to help you into bed Walter?" Paige asked clearly with disappointment on her face.

Walter smiled, "Only if that is what you want to do. I thought we could go out to the National Museum of Ireland and then to dinner."

Paige looked puzzled, "But you said you weren't feeling good."

"Only to get rid of Cabe and Sly, I wanted some time alone with you." Walter smiled as he took her hand.

Paige smiled as she bent over and kissed him deeply.

* * *

"Sean, Sean he's here," Louise said excitedly as their car pulled up. As Cabe parked Sylvester was quick to jump out and rushed to the back and got Walter's wheelchair out and brought it up and with Paige's help, Walter stood up out of the car and transferred over to the chair. Sean and Louise both looked at Walter with concern on their faces.

Sylvester quickly moved up and greeted Louise and Sean and moved on over to Uncle Tobin as Cabe stepped around and began pushing Walter's wheelchair for Paige. "Mother, Father," Walter greeted his parents. "You remember Paige and Cabe?" Walter asked.

They both nodded as they stared at Walter, "What happened son?" Louise finally asked.

Paige stared in disbelief at Walter, "You didn't tell your parents what happened?"

Walter shook his head, "A series of unfortunate events. But I am recovering; my physical therapists are very impressed with my recovery."

"Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien, I am so sorry, if I had known Walter hadn't told you I would have made sure you knew so you wouldn't have been shocked like this." Paige apologized.

"It's okay girl, its typical Walter. Never hear anything unless he didn't have any other choice." Sean told her as he turned away.

"That's because you never acted like you cared about anything with me." Walter shot back.

"Oh really, when was the last time you called or wrote us?" Sean spun back around in anger.

"I know exactly when the last time was, I'd like to know when was the last time you ever wrote at all instead of Mother just passing on that you said 'Hi'?" Walter grew just as angry.

"Sean, that's enough, our boy is here now. That's what matters." Louise told Sean as she put her hands to his chest.

Paige had squatted down, "Walter, you can't make things better being defensive and antagonistic."

Cabe smiled knowing how much the two men were alike, and seeing how much both women were alike, playing the role of peacemaker to the men they loved.

"You're right, I'm sorry Father, Mother, and I was wrong. I should have told you what has happened over the last few months now." Walter said.

Sean and Louise both looked at Walter in shock. With a tear in her eye Louise rushed over and hugged Walter, "Welcome home son." As she stood she turned to Paige, "Welcome Paige." She hugged Paige. "I don't know how you did that, but that was a miracle." Louise whispered.

Sean walked over a bit slower, "So what happened to you? You look like someone used your face for a punching bag."

Walter slowly nodded, "A number of things, I was nearly killed when I was caught in a rocket's engine wash on a mission, and then I wrenched my back saving a boy from a grain silo, and we had a former team member try to beat me to a pulp and gut me." Walter pulled up his shirt and exposed the nasty bruises that remained around his ribs and his abdomen bandages. "Two broken ribs, punctured lung and fifty five stitches," Walter almost said with pride in what he had endured.

"Jesus wept," Louise whispered with tears as she hugged Walter again.

Sean stood there choking back the tears as he considered what his son had suffered and made it through by the brief description he'd been given and the remains of the physical assault.

* * *

Walter's childhood nemesis came walking up, "Hey look, it's the big brain himself."

Walter sighed as he looked to Paige, "Thomas and Conner, childhood neighbors."

_"We got a real head-scratcher for you,"_ Thomas told him.

"Not now guys, it was a long flight," Walter told them trying to dissuade them from what he knew was coming.

_"Oh come on, what's eight million times eight million?"_ Thomas asked.

_"Sixty four trillion,"_ Walter answered easily.

"Well _w_ _hat about the platonic number for antonium?_" Conner asked.

As Walter started to respond, "No, that's enough. Leave my boy alone, he's been through enough." Sean told them as he stepped over between them.

"Walter, Paige, Cabe you come on over here and fill your plates. It won't be too long before the procession gets here." Louise gestured to the tables.

Sean nodded, "Father Paul's a good man but he'll ramble on until you die of starvation."

As Cabe pushed Walter to a table Sean stepped up, "We can take turns pushing Walter to the cemetery and back, it's a good distance and in the dirt it'll make pushing his chair a real chore."

Cabe smiled and nodded, "I'd appreciate that. I also appreciate you putting a stop to the questions; Walter is just stubborn enough to try picking a fight from that chair."

Sean kind of laughed as he nodded his head.

Paige bent over, "Is there anything over on the table you don't want or maybe something you would want more?"

Walter smiled as he reached up and caressed her face. Kissing her, "A little of everything would be nice."

Louise smiled as her hand came up to cover her heart as she saw Walter's expression of love to Paige.

As Paige filled a plate for her and Walter Louise stepped over, "My dear, are you and Walter dating?"

Paige looked up a little shocked and saw the smile on her face, and then realized she must have seen Walter kiss her. Paige nodded, "We had just decided to try and be a couple when he was injured the first time." Paige told her.

Louise patted her hand, "While you get both of you a plate can I get you drinks?"

Paige smiled, "Walter will just take some water, if you got coffee made, I'd like a cup, if not water is fine."

* * *

Paige walked along besides Walter, holding hands, as the procession moved along the road, "It sure is beautiful country Walter."

Walter nodded, "I never really noticed when I was growing up. I was so obsessed with studying and computers."

"You think next summer if Ralph doesn't take any classes at Caltech and you are all healed up we can come back as a family for a vacation?" Paige asked.

Walter smiled, "That sounds like a great idea, and I think we can arrange that."

Louise who was walking besides her husband as he took his turn pushing Walter's chair heard the exchange, "Oh that would be wonderful. Maybe you could get married here then too?"

Paige blushed instantly as she looked at Walter. "Well we have a few hurdles to get past first but I wouldn't be objectionable to that. Provided Paige says yes when I ask her," Walter said looking back over his shoulder.

"Now look what you did dear, you got the poor lass to blushing," Sean teased.

Louise brushed him off, "I'm sorry Paige, and I didn't mean to cause any embarrassment if you aren't there yet."

"Oh no Mrs. O'Brien, no real embarrassment, it just, our relationship seems to have been accelerated so much because of Walter's convalescing, and his need for a caregiver. We've just been trying to get back to some normal dating." Paige explained.

"Paige, its Louise, please, not Mrs. O'Brien." Louise told her.

Paige nodded, "Thank you Louise. There is some things, I don't think we need to talk about it among everyone here."

"We'd be more than happy to talk with you and Father about it Mother, when it's just us together. There are something's you'd need to know as to why." Walter told them.

* * *

They'd all gathered before Megan's cenotaph. Louise and Sean stepped up first and slowly laid down the flowers they held and Sean kissed his fingers and touched the stone before him. As they stepped back, Sylvester pushed Walter up to the stone, as Paige stepped up with them. Sylvester stepped around from behind the chair and together with Paige laid the three sets of flowers down before the stone.

As Sylvester turned around he hugged Walter, and then pushed Walter off to the side next to Walter's parents.

* * *

"What do you mean you're already married dear?" Louise asked in confusion.

"So typical of you boy, you couldn't even be bothered in over five years to tell us we had a daughter and now you plan to get rid of her before we even have a chance to meet her." Sean exclaimed as he left the table.

"Well, first, you have met her, when you came over to see Megan. But it isn't a real marriage, I had just started my company, CIS was going to deport me back to Ireland, and Happy didn't want that to happen so she said she would marry me, to keep me in the US. It was never a marriage of love." Walter tried to explain again.

"Love or not Walter, the church won't recognize your divorce. You and Paige won't be able to get married in the church," Louise fretted.

"When have I ever cared about the church Mother? I love Paige; she is the only one I have ever loved. As long as she is happy and we're recognized by the law as married I'll be happy. It's why I haven't been able to ask her to marry me yet." Walter told her.

"What's your wife say about this?" Sean asked him in disgust.

"She wants to marry Toby, so they want this divorce as much as we do. Believe me; no one regrets that I had to marry Happy to stay in the US more than me, other than if I hadn't had, I never would have met Paige, and I would do anything it would take to meet Paige." Walter said trying to stay calm.

Paige sat next to Walter holding his hands, "Louise, Sean, I know this is a horrible shock. I was pretty shocked myself when Walter told me after he was hurt in that Rocket launch. But I promise you, we love each other, and when I am with Walter, I know, we were meant to be together."

Louise smiled, "I do understand dear. It is a shock for us. I just wish we had known before. Are you sure you are comfortable with this other woman who has shared Walter's bed?"

Paige blushed. "Mother, our marriage was never physical. We only had one kiss between us right at the end of the ceremony."

Sean stood with his back to the table rubbing his hand through his beard, finally he turned and walked back over and bent over putting his hands on the table. "So you are saying you never consummated your marriage to this Happy then?"

Walter nodded, "That's exactly what I am saying."

Louise smiled in excitement, "Then that means we can petition the church for an annulment and you can get married here like every O'Brien in the last 6 generations. Well, except for Megan." Louise grew sad thinking of her little girl.

Sean looked Walter in the eye, "Are you giving me your word that Paige is the woman you love? That you'll respect and cherish her for the rest of your lives?"

Walter nodded, "I dream of her every night, I see her face whenever I close my eyes, when my eyes first open, Paige is who I need to see, when my eyes close at night, Paige has to be the last thing I see. Whenever I wake up in the middle of the night I have to watch her sleep. I can't stand to be away from her, when she is close by I need to feel her skin in contact with mine."

Paige smiled and hugged Walter with a tear in her eye.

Sean looked at Louise and she nodded, "You come back next summer after your divorce, we'll get the annulment and then you properly ask Paige here in front of us to marry you and we'll be okay with it. But no more hiding things from us, we've not always seen eye to eye and I know that causes problems but we do love you and we care about you."


	2. Chapter 2

Paige woke with a start; Walter wasn't in bed with her. Without thinking she reached frantically for her tablet but it wasn't on the nightstand and she scrambled from the bed, barely recognizing she was in the hotel room as she looked around the room. Not seeing Walter anywhere her mind trying to throw off the fog of sleep and anxiety. His wheelchair was gone, and her heart rate jumped, and her blood pressure soared as panic set firmly into her psyche, "Walter," she finally screamed.

Walter was in the bathroom when he heard her scream, "Paige? Love, I'm in the bathroom."

Paige ran around the bed and quickly opened the door and seeing Walter sitting on the commode she ran in and hugged him tightly while crying. Walter hugged her back, "I'm so sorry love, I didn't want to disturb you while you were sleeping so well, I figured I would be back out of here before you woke up."

Paige nodded as she kept hugging him while crying, "I just wasn't ready for you not to be there. I'm sorry."

Walter smiled, "Its okay, nothing for you to be sorry over, it was my mistake, and I should have awakened you instead of just coming in here like that. I'm sorry."

They heard pounding on their door, "Paige, Walter? Are you guys okay?" Cabe shouted.

Paige reluctantly let go of Walter and stepped over to the door and yelled back, "Cabe, one minute, we're okay." Unable to step beyond view of Walter she sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to look away and give him a little privacy while he finished.

Once Walter rolled out of the bathroom Paige put on her robe and walked over and opened the door. Paige smiled as Cabe was standing there in his t-shirt and business slacks, breathing heavily and his face red and she reached out and hugged him. "I'm sorry," she told him and stepped inside the room and he stepped in before she closed the door. "I woke up and Walter wasn't in bed, he'd just gone to the bathroom and it sent me into panic mode," Paige explained.

Cabe breathed a sigh of relief, "That's okay kid, just got my ticker really working overtime on that. Did you guys decide when you wanted to go back out to Walter's parents?"

Paige nodded, "We thought we could go out for lunch, do a little more looking around. I'd like to see where Walter went to school. Maybe come back for a late dinner and walk around town."

Cabe smiled, "If Walter doesn't feel sick by then?"

Paige gasped, as she looked at Walter, "Oh my gosh, you figured out he pretended to be sick? I'm so sorry we lied to you."

Cabe nodded, "Its okay, I should have thought about that, with it being your first vacation as a couple, you didn't need Sly and I crashing your time together. So on our way back you let us know where you want to go and we'll go the other way and give you two some time alone."

Walter looked at Cabe, "Good morning Cabe, how'd you sleep?"

Cabe smiled, "Not bad, how about you?"

"Good, thanks for coming to check on us, sorry I scared Paige." Walter told him.

"No worries, I'm going back to finish my coffee and finish getting ready, I'll be ready in about a half hour, whenever you are ready to head back to your parent's." Cabe turned and opened their door and stepped out.

Paige pushed the door firmly closed and turned, "He knows you played sick the other night so we could go out alone."

Walter smiled, "Never really could fool him. Want to take a shower together?" Walter waggled his eyebrows at Paige and she laughed and sat down on his lap and kissed him tenderly.

* * *

Sylvester turned in the passenger seat and looked at Paige and Walter, "I was thinking tonight we could hit up this restaurant not far from the hotel, they've got this really great collection of renaissance art and artifacts, all of it wheelchair accessible as well."

Walter looked at Paige and back up to Sylvester, "Yea, about that buddy, I'm not sure how much I am going to feel like it after we leave my parents. If it's like yesterday after leaving I was so wore out."

Cabe cleared his throat, "Yea, Sly, you and I will go visit it. Let Walt recover, we don't want to stress him out too much. Where is that located at again?"

"That's a good point Cabe, its two blocks north of the hotel." Sylvester told him, "But if you guys change your minds and want to join us, you'd be more than welcomed."

Walter smiled, "Thank you buddy, I appreciate that. But I think I will just like to spend some more time alone with Paige before we head back home, if that's okay with you."

* * *

After they finished lunch with his parents Cabe helped Paige take Walter back down the makeshift ramp Sean had put together when they got back from the cemetery yesterday.

Walter looked up at Paige, "Where would you like to go first?"

Paige smiled, "I'd like to see your school, but Sly wants to go with us so he can see it too so what about showing me the places that meant the most to you as a kid?"

Walter smiled, "Well the school will be a lot of work so, let's start with the barn."

Paige smiled and working together with Walter they managed to maneuver the wheelchair out to the barn. As Paige looked around, knowing Walter, she wondered what was out here that he could have found interesting as a kid. She finally looked questioningly to Walter and he smiled as he pointed up a ladder that ran up to a section of the loft. "Megan was able to talk my Dad into giving me a small section of the loft as my own private space where I was able to work on my ideas and watch the stars without disturbing everyone else."

Paige walked over and took hold of the rails and began climbing the ladder, as she reached the top she had to duck as she climbed off the ladder onto the loft floor as the ceiling was barely high enough for someone five foot. She saw an old bed and a make shift work bench and stool and an old telescope. She found several old notebooks on the desk and flipped through them and saw a lot of different ideas and calculations Walter had scribbled down inside of them. She gently closed the notebooks and turned around as she stepped back to the ladder and began climbing back down.

Louise stepped just inside the barn, "Is everything okay son?"

Walter nodded as he watched Paige climb back down, "Paige wants to see some of the places that meant the most to me as a kid."

Louise wrapped her arms around herself, "Oh the loft, Lord I was so worried and scared about you after Megan talked your Dad into giving you that area to work on your ideas. The first night you fell asleep up there I was so sure you'd roll right out and fall and break your neck."

Walter smiled at his Mom as Paige came over and kissed him. "If Ralph wanted to do that, I think I would be just as worried as you Louise."

Louise smiled, "I just wanted to warn you that Thomas and Conner are back over. Your Dad had to call them to come look at the water pump again."

Walter shook his head, "When is he going to just replace that dinosaur for a new modern design?"

Louise smiled, "You know your Dad Walter."

"If I thought he'd use it I would just buy him a new one," Walter said in disgust.

"Well, why don't we? Surely he'd use it wouldn't he?" Paige asked.

Louise shook her head, "Walter's right. Sean won't accept charity from anyone. He'd let it sit on a shelf until it rusted solid before he used it."

"Well, we could just pay Thomas and Conner to replace it without him knowing it then." Paige said.

Walter shook his head, "They wouldn't do that, they'd lose too much business. They make far more constantly repairing that old one. I'm surprised they can even find parts for it anymore." Walter looked at his Mom, "Thanks for letting me know they are here Mom. Paige let's go to the lake next, it's in the opposite direction as I really don't want to run into them."

* * *

As they worked their way out of the barn and down to the road Walter pointed out a path to the south, "If I could walk the ground we could just go down that path to the lake. That's where I would go when I was mad or upset over something."

Paige looked as they passed on by, "Did the water help you calm down?"

Walter smiled, "Not exactly, I would skip rocks on it. Got quite good at it, I had a lot of practice growing up here. Oh as an interesting fact about skipping rocks, have you ever skipped a rock over frozen water?"

Paige frowned, "No, but then where I grew up the water didn't really freeze."

Walter nodded, "The ice makes this really interesting sound, as someone who likes music so much I think you would really enjoy it. And if the area has an echo it only intensifies the effect."

They followed the road around a corner as they talked about skipping rocks and sounds and finally found themselves almost level with the bank of the lake just about ten feet away. They both saw the wet earth and decided it would be a bad idea to get off the dirt road as the wheelchair would probably sink to it's axel in the mud. Paige stepped over and picked up a few rocks and brought them back and smiled as she handed them to Walter, "Figured you might like to skip some as a reminder."

Walter returned her smile and did his best to explain which stones were good for skipping with; he opted to refrain from explaining the science of why rocks skipped. "These thin ones with the smooth bottoms and tops work the best; these with rounded surfaces will just sink."

Paige smiled, as always she enjoyed his voice but she was happy he didn't go into detail of why skipping rocks worked. She watched as Walter demonstrated how to throw the stones and she tried a few times but didn't receive the same joy out of it as he did. On her last one Walter frowned, and Paige asked, "What's the matter baby?"

Walter pointed at the number of fish floating dead on the water, "Something isn't right with the lake. See those bubbles, Paige, see if you can get close enough to the water and see if the air feels cooler. But don't stay there very long."

Paige stepped carefully down to the lake, "Walter, it feels lot cooler."

"That's CO2 coming off the water, Paige, get back up here, hurry." Walter said worriedly. "We've got to get back to my parents, we got to warn everyone."

* * *

Paige backed him up and working together they began going back up the road after Walter pulled out his cell phone and called the Garage; placing the phone on speaker he stuck the phone in his pocket so he could help Paige push the chair by moving the wheels. "Dr Tobias Curtis, the Dr is in, please deposit five cents for the first three minutes." Toby answered the phone.

"Toby, its Walter, we got a problem here, I believe the lake by my parent's is about to explode and I need you and Happy to log into the local weather satellite here and give me readings on the lake temperature." Walter explained.

Toby looked at Happy almost stunned, "Uh, who is this?"

"Who is this? Toby, this is no time for jokes." Walter told him exasperated. "I got to have that satellite weather information now."

As they drew closer to the house they saw Thomas and Conner's van was still at his parents and saw his Mom out front with Cabe and Sylvester. "Cabe," Walter yelled. Cabe looked back and saw Paige and Walter were both breathing hard and struggling to get to the house and he ran down and took over and began pushing at a slower rate, "Cabe, we need to get to the house faster, we got a problem."

"Mom, we need Dad, Thomas and Conner. As quick as possible," Walter yelled as Cabe started to push as quickly as he could. Louise turned and headed out back where the pump for the well was.

"Sly, I need to you to pull up the Tanzania lake eruption video; I'll need it to show everyone." Walter told him.

"Kid, what's going on?" Cabe asked him as they finally reached the front steps.

Paige took a deep breath as she tried to relax from pushing the chair so hard, "Dead fish all over the lake, CO2 coming out of the lake."

* * *

Sean came running around the corner of the house first followed by Thomas, then Connor and finally Louise. "What is it son?" Sean asked.

"Hey Walt, I'm guessing a red thermal image over the lake is bad?" Toby said through Walter's phone.

"It's catastrophic Toby, okay, Mom, Dad, guys I need you to listen to what I am about to explain, but I need you to understand what I am telling you is the truth. Right now the lake is too hot; this heat is disrupting the normal change over of CO2 gas. The gas is building up deep under the surface of the lake. We've got to do what is called off-gas on the lake. If we don't do it, sometime in the next week or so most likely the gas will cause the lake to erupt releasing the CO2 as a giant cloud. Right now the winds are favorable that if we can release it in a controlled manor there won't be any danger from it. If we don't do it right now, and properly, the cloud of CO2 could roll right across this whole county and kill ever single thing that breathes." Walter began explaining.

"The lake erupting, that's a new one," Connor said making a circle with his finger around his ear.

"Sly, show them the video," Walter told him.

Sylvester turned his laptop around and started the video as everyone moved in and watched. "This is a lake in Tanzania, it erupted the same way our lake is going to, the gas cloud that came out of that lake killed hundreds of people, thousands of animals." Walter told them.

Paige stared in horror at the video, "Walter, are you serious?"

"I am, but I am just as serious that we can stop that from happening here." Walter told her as he held her hand.

Sean turned, "Okay, let's just leave your other predictions aside for now, what do we do?"

Walter nodded, "We need to put together piping that can reach from the surface down to the layer of CO2, probably around fifty feet, and draw it up out of the lake at the proper rate of speed. So the first thing we need is a way to get out on the lake that won't agitate the water and possible cause the limnic eruption."

"I'm on it," Cabe told him as he rushed off.

"Remember Cabe, no motor and put your coms in." Walter called after him as he pulled out his own coms and put it in his ear.

Connor pointed at the top of their van, "We got about sixty feet or so of twelve inch pipe we can use."

"That'll work, but you will need something to act as a flapper value as well," Happy said through Walter's phone. Sean and Connor ran over and started pulling the pipes down.

Thomas ran over and opened the back of their van, "What about this toilet seat?"

"Perfect," Walter told him.

"You'll need some kind of line to run down the side of the pipe so you can close the lid." Happy said. "Anyone got any fishing line?"

"Oh, Sean has some in his tackle box, I'll go get it," Louise told them as she moved into the house.

"Toby, well need to stay up to date on the current wind speed and direction when we get ready to do this," Walter told him.

"Got you big brain," Toby told him.

"Cabe, how's the boat coming?" Walter called over his coms.

"I got one, but it's going to take me a bit to get over to you," Cabe told him as he slowly paddled a large duck boat with a dock attached to it through the lake.

"Okay, these three pieces are joined together and we can collapse them inside each other to make it easier to transport." Sean yelled.

"Okay, we also need some kind of ballast and a bladder to draw the CO2 rich water up with." Walter said.

"I remember seeing a inner tube down around the shore, would that work for your ballast?" Paige asked.

"That's perfect," Walter told her.

"There's the bladder we use on the condensation catcher, it should work wouldn't it?" Sean asked.

"Yes it would," Walter told him and Sean took off for the side of the house.

"Hey Walter, I've overlaid a ping map over the lake image so I can see where you and Cabe are right now. We'll be able to tell you where to stop the boat." Toby told him on the phone.

"Good work, Toby, Happy, go ahead and get your coms in now and I'll hang up the phone." Walter told him as he hung up his phone.

"Okay, we need to get all of this down to the lake's edge so when Cabe gets there with the boat we can load it up and stop this from happening." Walter told them.

Thomas and Connor loaded it all back into the van and drove down to the lake while Sean pushed Walter back down to the lake's edge as Paige and Sylvester followed along.

* * *

While they waited on Cabe, Sean ran over where Paige pointed and grabbed the inner tube that was laying there. It took a few minutes to patch it and then aired it up with the air compressor in the van.

As Cabe was coming across the lake Uncle Tobin came driving by, "Now what in blue blazes are you folks doing?"

Louise quickly explained to her brother what Walter had told them and how they were going to fix the problem.

Once Cabe reached them Sean jumped into the seat next to Cabe and Thomas and Connor loaded the piping onto the dock. Walter locked the wheels on his chair and tried to get up, and Paige grabbed his shoulders and forced him to stay seated, "You are not going to get on that dock Walter, you've been hurt too many times. I'm not risking you again."

"She's right Brainiac, you stay put, we'll handle this," Thomas told him as he climbed onto the dock follow by his brother.

Cabe and Sean began paddling out into the lake, "Okay Cabe, turn about twenty degrees towards the second star on your right and keep going until morning," Toby told him through the coms.

Cabe asked, "A Peter Pan reference, really Doc?"

"Keep going Cabe, you are entering the hot zone now." Toby told him.

"Copy that, keep paddling," Cabe told him.

"Toby, how are the winds doing?" Walter asked.

"Direction is still holding steady, speed has slowed a bit, and it's down 4 MPH." Toby read to him.

"That should still work," Walter told him.

"Okay Cabe, you are coming up on the where you need to be, slow your paddling and get ready to stop." Happy told him.

"Perfect, you can stop. You are about twenty feet in the zone now." Happy told him.

"Copy that, stop pedaling," Cabe told her as he stopped pedaling along with Sean. "Okay, we stopped moving, are we good to go?"

"You're good Cabe," Toby told him.

"Okay guys, lower our straw into the lake," Cabe told the brothers.

Once the piping was in place Connor jumped onto the bladder expelling all the air from it and when he got off it began to siphon water up the tube causing a near geyser of water to shoot more than twenty feet high.

"That's too fast," Walter told them over the coms, "Close the flapper valve to slow the water flow quickly."

Cabe relayed the information and Thomas pulled on the fishing line and the water slowed, "Cabe that's good, he can relax the valve now," Walter told him.

"Okay, relax the valve Thomas," Cabe relayed back.

With the water flowing at the proper rate Toby confirmed that the lake temperature was slowly lowering. By the time the satellite showed the lake temperature had returned to a proper level a large crowd had gathered and was watching what was going on.

* * *

It was quite late by the time they'd gotten everything brought in and taken back to the house. Sean helped Cabe take the duck boat back to the rental cabin and Thomas had pushed Walter back up to his parent's house. Louise had gone back up to the house when everything seemed to be in hand and had started supper and it was sitting on the table waiting for everyone when they all got there.

They'd all felt a great sense of accomplishment and camaraderie from working so hard together to divert disaster. Walter looked at his family and friends, "I just want to thank you all. I know that Paige, Cabe and Sly all trust me because they have seen first hand what I have been able to help our team accomplish but you guys had only seen when my calculations had flaws and my arrogance but you were willing to set that aside and give me the benefit of the doubt this time and aided us and together we stopped what could have potentially ended our family here in Ireland and I truly am thankful."

"Well that wasn't your fault entirely son, we certainly never made things easy on you. It always made you strive to prove yourself more and more, so mistakes were bound to happen. So thank you for giving us a chance to trust and work together to save our family." Sean told him.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the conclusion of my re-imagining of 3x08 'Sly and the Family Stone'. Sorry it took so long to figure out how to write it so it made sense. To the Adventure! -Tim**

**PS, Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers for my wife. Thankfully God has been faithful and she's been doing as well as someone can with her health conditions!**


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